Many saltwater anglers are already familiar with the Savage Gear bait family with their growing following of the 3D Manic shrimp, and I’m not ashamed to say I’m one of those fans. Many anglers baulk at the initial price of these ‘soft plastics’, but when you consider the nature of the TPE plastic they are made of, most of these soft lures far outlast many hard baits and plugs. I personally had a 3D Manic Shrimp last—and make money in, 4 tournaments in a row before a snook decided it needed it more than me. The TPE material of the new 3D crab is sure to allow long-life for this bait as well. Disappointingly, none were available at ICast for me to provide a full water-test and review. The 3D crab is set for shipment to large dealers in the September time frame with an MSRP of around 5 or 6 bucks.

Savage Gear 3D Reaction Craw

For our freshwater friends, and those looking for bony fish imitations, Savage Gear has a full soft plastic line up from the 3D Reaction Craw with a stand up jig head and floating claws to the ultra-realistic 3D Line Thru Swimbait, to a variety of soft and hard plastic lures.

What about TPE? TPE is a fancy new plastic in lure manufacture and Savage Gear has adopted the product to their full line. Traditional plastics and PVC are nice and soft, but they don’t have the stretchy’ness of elastomers included in TPE. This change in the formulas to include the elastomers not only creates an incredible stretch in the baits—like an elastic band, but also creates incredible durability. The process is more expensive which translates into a soft plastic bait that costs more than 5 bucks a piece rigged, but at the same time it should—and will, last 10 times longer than a single traditional soft plastic. The savings are easy to see, the aggravation of changing plastics often is gone and the life-like nature of these baits is incredible.